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apt-get - APT package handling utility -- command-line interface
apt-get [-hvs] [-o=config string] [-c=file] {update | upgrade
dselect-upgrade | install pkg... | remove pkg...
source pkg... | build-dep pkg... | check | clean | autoclean}
apt-get is the command-line tool for handling packages, and may be con‐
sidered the user’s “back-end” to other tools using the APT library.
Several “front-end” interfaces exist, such as dselect(8)
, aptitude,
synaptic, gnome-apt and wajig.
Unless the -h, or --help option is given, one of the commands below
must be present.
update update is used to resynchronize the package index files from
their sources. The indexes of available packages are fetched
from the location(s) specified in /etc/apt/sources.list. For ex‐
ample, when using a Debian archive, this command retrieves and
scans the Packages.gz files, so that information about new and
updated packages is available. An update should always be per‐
formed before an upgrade or dist-upgrade. Please be aware that
the overall progress meter will be incorrect as the size of the
package files cannot be known in advance.
upgrade
upgrade is used to install the newest versions of all packages
currently installed on the system from the sources enumerated in
/etc/apt/sources.list. Packages currently installed with new
versions available are retrieved and upgraded; under no circum‐
stances are currently installed packages removed, or packages
not already installed retrieved and installed. New versions of
currently installed packages that cannot be upgraded without
changing the install status of another package will be left at
their current version. An update must be performed first so that
apt-get knows that new versions of packages are available.
dselect-upgrade
dselect-upgrade is used in conjunction with the traditional De‐
bian packaging front-end, dselect(8)
. dselect-upgrade follows
the changes made by dselect(8)
to the Status field of available
packages, and performs the actions necessary to realize that
state (for instance, the removal of old and the installation of
new packages).
dist-upgrade
dist-upgrade in addition to performing the function of upgrade,
also intelligently handles changing dependencies with new ver‐
sions of packages; apt-get has a “smart” conflict resolution
system, and it will attempt to upgrade the most important pack‐
ages at the expense of less important ones if necessary. The
/etc/apt/sources.list file contains a list of locations from
which to retrieve desired package files. See also apt_prefer‐
ences(5)
for a mechanism for overriding the general settings for
individual packages.
install
install is followed by one or more packages desired for instal‐
lation. Each package is a package name, not a fully qualified
filename (for instance, in a Debian GNU/Linux system, libc6
would be the argument provided, not libc6_1.9.6-2.deb) All pack‐
ages required by the package(s) specified for installation will
also be retrieved and installed. The /etc/apt/sources.list file
is used to locate the desired packages. If a hyphen is appended
to the package name (with no intervening space), the identified
package will be removed if it is installed. Similarly a plus
sign can be used to designate a package to install. These latter
features may be used to override decisions made by apt-get’s
conflict resolution system.
A specific version of a package can be selected for installation
by following the package name with an equals and the version of
the package to select. This will cause that version to be locat‐
ed and selected for install. Alternatively a specific distribu‐
tion can be selected by following the package name with a slash
and the version of the distribution or the Archive name (stable,
testing, unstable).
Both of the version selection mechanisms can downgrade packages
and must be used with care.
Finally, the apt_preferences(5)
mechanism allows you to create
an alternative installation policy for individual packages.
If no package matches the given expression and the expression
contains one of ’.’, ’?’ or ’*’ then it is assumed to be a POSIX
regular expression, and it is applied to all package names in
the database. Any matches are then installed (or removed). Note
that matching is done by substring so ’lo.*’ matches ’how-lo’
and ’lowest’. If this is undesired, anchor the regular expres‐
sion with a ’^’ or ’$’ character, or create a more specific reg‐
ular expression.
remove remove is identical to install except that packages are removed
instead of installed. If a plus sign is appended to the package
name (with no intervening space), the identified package will be
installed instead of removed.
source source causes apt-get to fetch source packages. APT will examine
the available packages to decide which source package to fetch.
It will then find and download into the current directory the
newest available version of that source package. Source packages
are tracked separately from binary packages via deb-src type
lines in the sources.list(5)
file. This probably will mean that
you will not get the same source as the package you have in‐
stalled or as you could install. If the --compile options is
specified then the package will be compiled to a binary .deb us‐
ing dpkg-buildpackage, if --download-only is specified then the
source package will not be unpacked.
A specific source version can be retrieved by postfixing the
source name with an equals and then the version to fetch, simi‐
lar to the mechanism used for the package files. This enables
exact matching of the source package name and version, implicit‐
ly enabling the APT::Get::Only-Source option.
Note that source packages are not tracked like binary packages,
they exist only in the current directory and are similar to
downloading source tar balls.
build-dep
build-dep causes apt-get to install/remove packages in an at‐
tempt to satisfy the build dependencies for a source package.
check check is a diagnostic tool; it updates the package cache and
checks for broken dependencies.
clean clean clears out the local repository of retrieved package
files. It removes everything but the lock file from
/var/cache/apt/archives/ and /var/cache/apt/archives/partial/.
When APT is used as a dselect(8)
method, clean is run automati‐
cally. Those who do not use dselect will likely want to run
apt-get clean from time to time to free up disk space.
autoclean
Like clean, autoclean clears out the local repository of re‐
trieved package files. The difference is that it only removes
package files that can no longer be downloaded, and are largely
useless. This allows a cache to be maintained over a long period
without it growing out of control. The configuration option
APT::Clean-Installed will prevent installed packages from being
erased if it is set to off.
All command line options may be set using the configuration file, the
descriptions indicate the configuration option to set. For boolean op‐
tions you can override the config file by using something like
-f-,--no-f, -f=no or several other variations.
- -d, --download-only
-
Download only; package files are only retrieved, not unpacked or
installed. Configuration Item: APT::Get::Download-Only.
- -f, --fix-broken
-
Fix; attempt to correct a system with broken dependencies in
place. This option, when used with install/remove, can omit any
packages to permit APT to deduce a likely solution. Any Package
that are specified must completely correct the problem. The op‐
tion is sometimes necessary when running APT for the first time;
APT itself does not allow broken package dependencies to exist
on a system. It is possible that a system’s dependency structure
can be so corrupt as to require manual intervention (which usu‐
ally means using dselect(8)
or dpkg --remove to eliminate some
of the offending packages). Use of this option together with -m
may produce an error in some situations. Configuration Item:
APT::Get::Fix-Broken.
- -m, --ignore-missing, --fix-missing
-
Ignore missing packages; If packages cannot be retrieved or fail
the integrity check after retrieval (corrupted package files),
hold back those packages and handle the result. Use of this op‐
tion together with -f may produce an error in some situations.
If a package is selected for installation (particularly if it is
mentioned on the command line) and it could not be downloaded
then it will be silently held back. Configuration Item:
APT::Get::Fix-Missing.
- --no-download
-
Disables downloading of packages. This is best used with --ig‐
nore-missing to force APT to use only the .debs it has already
downloaded. Configuration Item: APT::Get::Download.
- -q, --quiet
-
Quiet; produces output suitable for logging, omitting progress
indicators. More q’s will produce more quiet up to a maximum of
2. You can also use -q=# to set the quiet level, overriding the
configuration file. Note that quiet level 2 implies -y, you
should never use -qq without a no-action modifier such as -d,
--print-uris or -s as APT may decided to do something you did
not expect. Configuration Item: quiet.
- -s, --simulate, --just-print, --dry-run, --recon, --no-act
-
No action; perform a simulation of events that would occur but
do not actually change the system. Configuration Item:
APT::Get::Simulate.
Simulate prints out a series of lines each one representing a
dpkg operation, Configure (Conf), Remove (Remv), Unpack (Inst).
Square brackets indicate broken packages with and empty set of
square brackets meaning breaks that are of no consequence
(rare).
- -y, --yes, --assume-yes
-
Automatic yes to prompts; assume “yes” as answer to all prompts
and run non-interactively. If an undesirable situation, such as
changing a held package, trying to install a unauthenticated
package or removing an essential package occurs then apt-get
will abort. Configuration Item: APT::Get::Assume-Yes.
- -u, --show-upgraded
-
Show upgraded packages; Print out a list of all packages that
are to be upgraded. Configuration Item: APT::Get::Show-Upgraded.
- -V, --verbose-versions
-
Show full versions for upgraded and installed packages. Configu‐
ration Item: APT::Get::Show-Versions.
- -b, --compile, --build
-
Compile source packages after downloading them. Configuration
Item: APT::Get::Compile.
- --ignore-hold
-
Ignore package Holds; This causes apt-get to ignore a hold
placed on a package. This may be useful in conjunction with
dist-upgrade to override a large number of undesired holds. Con‐
figuration Item: APT::Ignore-Hold.
- --no-upgrade
-
Do not upgrade packages; When used in conjunction with install,
no-upgrade will prevent packages on the command line from being
upgraded if they are already installed. Configuration Item:
APT::Get::Upgrade.
- --force-yes
-
Force yes; This is a dangerous option that will cause apt to
continue without prompting if it is doing something potentially
harmful. It should not be used except in very special situa‐
tions. Using force-yes can potentially destroy your system! Con‐
figuration Item: APT::Get::force-yes.
- --print-uris
-
Instead of fetching the files to install their URIs are printed.
Each URI will have the path, the destination file name, the size
and the expected md5 hash. Note that the file name to write to
will not always match the file name on the remote site! This al‐
so works with the source and update commands. When used with the
update command the MD5 and size are not included, and it is up
to the user to decompress any compressed files. Configuration
Item: APT::Get::Print-URIs.
- --purge
-
Use purge instead of remove for anything that would be removed.
An asterisk ("*") will be displayed next to packages which are
scheduled to be purged. Configuration Item: APT::Get::Purge.
- --reinstall
-
Re-Install packages that are already installed and at the newest
version. Configuration Item: APT::Get::ReInstall.
- --list-cleanup
-
This option defaults to on, use --no-list-cleanup to turn it
off. When on apt-get will automatically manage the contents of
/var/lib/apt/lists to ensure that obsolete files are erased. The
only reason to turn it off is if you frequently change your
source list. Configuration Item: APT::Get::List-Cleanup.
- -t, --target-release, --default-release
-
This option controls the default input to the policy engine, it
creates a default pin at priority 990 using the specified re‐
lease string. The preferences file may further override this
setting. In short, this option lets you have simple control over
which distribution packages will be retrieved from. Some common
examples might be -t ’2.1*’ or -t unstable. Configuration Item:
APT::Default-Release; see also the apt_preferences(5)
manual
page.
- --trivial-only
-
Only perform operations that are ’trivial’. Logically this can
be considered related to --assume-yes, where --assume-yes will
answer yes to any prompt, --trivial-only will answer no. Config‐
uration Item: APT::Get::Trivial-Only.
- --no-remove
-
If any packages are to be removed apt-get immediately aborts
without prompting. Configuration Item: APT::Get::Remove.
- --only-source
-
Only has meaning for the source and build-dep commands. Indi‐
cates that the given source names are not to be mapped through
the binary table. This means that if this option is specified,
these commands will only accept source package names as argu‐
ments, rather than accepting binary package names and looking up
the corresponding source package. Configuration Item:
APT::Get::Only-Source.
- --diff-only, --tar-only
-
Download only the diff or tar file of a source archive. Configu‐
ration Item: APT::Get::Diff-Only and APT::Get::Tar-Only.
- --arch-only
-
Only process architecture-dependent build-dependencies. Configu‐
ration Item: APT::Get::Arch-Only.
- --allow-unauthenticated
-
Ignore if packages can’t be authenticated and don’t prompt about
it. This is usefull for tools like pbuilder. Configuration Item:
APT::Get::AllowUnauthenticated.
- -h, --help
-
Show a short usage summary.
- -v, --version
-
Show the program version.
- -c, --config-file
-
Configuration File; Specify a configuration file to use. The
program will read the default configuration file and then this
configuration file. See apt.conf(5)
for syntax information.
- -o, --option
-
Set a Configuration Option; This will set an arbitary configura‐
tion option. The syntax is -o Foo::Bar=bar.
/etc/apt/sources.list
Locations to fetch packages from. Configuration Item:
Dir::Etc::SourceList.
/etc/apt/apt.conf
APT configuration file. Configuration Item: Dir::Etc::Main.
/etc/apt/apt.conf.d/
APT configuration file fragments Configuration Item:
Dir::Etc::Parts.
/etc/apt/preferences
Version preferences file. This is where you would specify “pin‐
ning", i.e. a preference to get certain packages from a separate
source or from a different version of a distribution. Configura‐
tion Item: Dir::Etc::Preferences.
/var/cache/apt/archives/
Storage area for retrieved package files. Configuration Item:
Dir::Cache::Archives.
/var/cache/apt/archives/partial/
Storage area for package files in transit. Configuration Item:
Dir::Cache::Archives (implicit partial).
/var/lib/apt/lists/
Storage area for state information for each package resource
specified in sources.list(5)
Configuration Item:
Dir::State::Lists.
/var/lib/apt/lists/partial/
Storage area for state information in transit. Configuration
Item: Dir::State::Lists (implicit partial).
apt-cache(8)
, apt-cdrom(8)
, dpkg(8)
, dselect(8)
, sources.list(5)
,
apt.conf(5)
, apt-config(8)
, The APT User’s guide in
/usr/share/doc/apt/, apt_preferences(5)
, the APT Howto.
apt-get returns zero on normal operation, decimal 100 on error.
APT bug page: http://bugs.debian.org/src:apt. If you wish to report a
bug in APT, please see /usr/share/doc/debian/bug-reporting.txt or the
reportbug(1)
command.
Jason Gunthorpe, APT team.
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